Star Firearms — The Z-70 & Z-70/B sub-machine guns

Despite being known best in the commercial market for handguns, Star's primary business has been in many ways their military submachine guns. The fall of the SMG in the 1980s to the 5.56 mm carbine may even have been a contributing cause of their eventual demise.

From just before the Civil War, until the 1990s, one Star SMG model has replaced another in Spanish army service, as well numerous export countries. For more, read up on stocked- and machine-pistols or find your stocked SMG in the progression of Spanish service weapons:

After research and inspection, and new info, I have concluded that the Z70 should not be a unique gun, but is a simple caliber change to the Z-62, and the Z70/B is a fairly minor change in features. So, they are merged over there. This page will be wiped out and left as a redirect only, soonish.

The Z-70s are basically product improved versions of the Z-62/63 SMG. There are no serious changes to the overall layout or method of construction and the guns are the same size and weight. The 40 round magazine was apparently discontinued for this weapon.

Z-70s are only made in 9 mm Parabellum. This marked Spain's alignment with NATO, and their general move from Largo to Parabellum across the forces. The other major change was to the trigger assembly. The Z-70s have a conventional, single point rotating trigger. Fire selection is achieved via a rotating lever on the left side of the pistol grip, where it may be actuated with the firing thumb. This lever also incorporates a safety setting. The magazine release has been changed to a lever type, below the trigger guard.

A number of other small changes in the overall design were also made. None of these affect general use, and are presumably either to improve performance, longevity or reduce manufacturing costs. These changes seem to indicate that most parts are not interchangable between the two series, despite their optward similarity. I believe that the Z-70 was the commercial and development model, and the Z-70/B incorporated some trivial changes for Army service, but I do not know what the difference between the two weapons is.

For an additional view of the Z70B, see the photo at the top of this page.

The Z-62 and Z-70/B are still in use with second-line troops of all sorts, across Spain. It is especially commonly seen in use by the Navy, by shipboard protection forces, as those seen below. I will note that the finish of these guns seems to be perhaps the best ever made. 30-40 year old guns, expecially those in service aboard ships, should not be in such good condition. Spanish Marines have all upgraded to the Z-84, or use .223 carbines instead.

Manuals & Disassembly Instructions

I do not have manuals for every pistol shown on this site. However, in many cases there is a related manual. Partly to make the series relationships clearer, and partly to assist with speed and accuracy of updating, all manuals can be found in one place, the manuals page. All manuals available are provided as downloadable PDFs, or you may purchase a printed copy of the entire set of handgun manuals.